Knowledge Base

What is SupportAssist and how to manage enterprise systems with SA?

Dell SupportAssist automates support by proactively identifying hardware and software issues. When an issue is detected, SupportAssist notifies you about the issue and automatically creates a Support Request with Dell, attaching the data required for troubleshooting and efficient issue resolution.

Note: Since the 14th generation of Dell PowerEdge servers, SupportAssist is also included in the integrated Dell Remote Access Controller 9 (iDRAC9), and can be managed through the iDRAC9 GUI.

3. SupportAssist Enterprise

Dell EMC SupportAssist Enterprise is an application that automates technical support for your Dell server, storage, and networking devices.

SupportAssist Enterprise monitors your Dell devices and proactively detects hardware issues that may occur. When a hardware issue is detected, SupportAssist Enterprise automatically opens a support case with Dell Technical Support and sends you an email notification.

Note: Data required for troubleshooting the issue is automatically collected by SupportAssist Enterprise and sent securely to Dell Technical Support.

This section explains how to install SupportAssist Standalone on a Windows server operating system.

Note: SupportAssist Enterprise can be installed on a physical or virtual server.

Note: For the SA host a Windows Server or Linux Server operating system is required. The Linux version only discovers Linux systems via OMSA, but no servers with Windows OS installed.

Servers of generation 12, 13 and 14 are compatible using iDRAC with SAE. Older generations must have OMSA (Open Manage Server Administrator) installed in the OS. Define the generation of your server in this article.

Software Download

Download the installation file for Windows or for Linux.
Save the file and access to the folder.

Installing SupportAssist Enterprise on Windows

1. Right-click the SupportAssist Enterprise installer package, and then click Run as administrator. The Preparing to Install page is displayed briefly, and then the Welcome to SupportAssist Enterprise Installer page is displayed.

2. Click Next. The License Agreement page is displayed.

3. Read about the information that SupportAssist Enterprise collects from devices, and select I Agree.

4. Read the Dell End User License Agreement, select I Agree, and then click Install. The Installing Dell SupportAssist Enterprise page is displayed, and then the Installation Completed page is displayed.

Note: If the system is a member of a domain, you must provide the username in the [Domain\Username] format. For example, MyDomain\MyUsername. You can also use a period [ . ] to indicate the local domain.For example, .\Administrator.

6. Type the Windows operating system username and password, and then click Login. The SupportAssist Enterprise Registration Wizard is displayed.

Add a generic device

3. From the Device Type list, ensure that Server / Hypervisor is selected.

4. Type the IP address or hostname of the server in the appropriate field.

5. Click Next. The Device Credentials page is displayed.

6. Type the username and password of the server in the appropriate fields and click Next. The Discovering Device page is displayed until SupportAssist Enterprise identifies the device.

7. Click Finish. The device is added to the device inventory and the Summary page is displayed.

8. Click OK to close the Add Single Device wizard.

Add a server

Please apply the same steps as below. With the new generation, servers can be directly added using the iDRAC, which is OS independent. For older generations, SupportAssist needs OMSA to act as an intermediate between SA and iDRAC.

Note: For 12G, 13G and 14G servers, the iDRAC should be added. For older generations, use OMSA. (Define the generation of your server in this article)

You can use SupportAssist Enterprise to collect and send the system information from a device to Dell.

1. Click Devices. The Devices page is displayed.

2. Select a device from which you want to collect and send system information to Dell. The Start Collection link is enabled.

3. Click Start Collection. The Name / IP address column on the Devices page displays a progress indicator and message that indicate the status of the collection and upload of the system information.

Note: This diagnostic file is associated to your device service tag.

If an incident is detected by SA Standalone, a support case will be automatically opened and the collection file sent.

Where are diagnostics files saved in SupportAssist Enterprise? (SAE)

For collections from a storage, networking, chassis, or multiple devices only — In the Collections page, select the collection and in the collection overview pane, click Download File.

If SupportAssist Enterprise is installed on a Windows operating system — Navigate to C:\Program Files\Dell\SupportAssist\reports and locate the collection .zip file.

If SupportAssist Enterprise is installed on a Linux operating system — Navigate to /opt/dell/supportassist/scripts/reports and locate the collection .zip file.

4. SupportAssist embedded in iDRAC 9 (14G)

Starting with the 14th generation of PowerEdge servers, SupportAssist is now embedded in the integrated Dell Remote Access Controller (iDRAC). When registered, SupportAssist automatically identifies hardware faults, creates support cases, and initiates contact from Dell EMC to the customer.

For troubleshooting, the SupportAssist Collection can be manually exported through the iDRAC web interface even without a registration.

Links:

5. SupportAssist for OME (up to OME 2.2)

Note: The steps below describe the SupportAssist plugin for OpenManage Essentials (OME) 2.2. Since OME 2.3, this plugin doesn't work anymore and is replaced by SupportAssist Enterprise 1.1.

The SupportAssist Plugin adds proactive support capabilities to the management tool OpenManage Essentials. Linked with OpenManage Essentials, this SupportAssist plugin will notify Dell support when an issue arises on a Server, but also on supported Storage and Network devices.

For more information about installing, configuring and using OpenManage Essentials, see the appropriate Dell OpenManage Essentials User’s Guide and Dell OpenManage Essentials Release Notes at Dell.com/OpenManageManuals.

Note: OMSA is required for monitoring Dell PowerEdge servers only if you discover the servers using the operating system IP address. OMSA is not required to monitor Dell PowerEdge 12th generation or later servers if you discover the server using the iDRAC IP address.

Note: OMSA is required for monitoring Dell PowerEdge servers only if you discover the servers using the operating IP address. OMSA is not required to monitor Dell PowerEdge servers of 12th generation or later if you discover the server using the iDRAC IP address.

Note: The following steps are applicable only to Microsoft Windows Server 2012 or later operating systems. For all other operating systems, skip the following steps and proceed to Configure SNMP Service.

On the remote device, open Server Manager.

Click Manage > Add Roles and Features. The Add Roles and Features Wizard is displayed.

Click Next repeatedly until the Features page is displayed.

On the Features pane, scroll down and click Remote Server Administrator Tools > Feature Administration Tools > SNMP Tools, and then click Next.

Select Guided Wizard and then click Finish. The Discover Devices wizard is displayed.

In the IP address / range field, type the IP address of the remote device.

Click Add and then click Next. The Device Type Filtering page is displayed.

Select suitable protocol for discovery.

Click Next repeatedly until the Summary page is displayed.

Click Finish. The Discovery Range Summary portal is displayed. The portal displays the status of the device discovery.

After the discovery is complete, click the Devices menu. The Devices portal is displayed. The remote device that you discovered is displayed in the Servers node of the All Device tree in the left pane.

On the OpenManage Essentials management server, do one of the following:< >Double-click the Dell SupportAssist desktop icon. Click Start→ All Programs→ Dell OpenManage Applications→ Dell SupportAssist→ Dell SupportAssist.In OpenManage Essentials dashboard, click the Extensions tab, and then click the SupportAssist Launch link.If the Windows Security dialog box is displayed, type the Username and Password, and then click OK.

The SupportAssist dashboard opens in a web browser and may display the First-Time Setup dialog box.

Setting Up SupportAssist

To ensure that SupportAssist is able to monitor the supported devices, generate support cases if there is a problem with any devices, and transmit the system logs to Dell, you must perform the following:

Establish Internet connectivity — If your system connects to the Internet through a firewall or proxy server, the proxy server settings must be configured in SupportAssist.

Note: You must update the proxy server settings in SupportAssist whenever the proxy server settings in your environment are changed.

6. Why use SupportAssist instead of DSET to gather logs?

SupportAssist is the tool to generate diagnostics files starting with Dell EMC 9th and newer generation servers. SupportAssist Enterprise allows remote and local collections. These collections can be sent manually to the Dell EMC Technical Support. Also, if the device is covered by a valid warranty and if SupportAssist Enterprise has been configured for, the collection will be automatically uploaded to Dell Servers and a case opened.

For legacy PowerEdge devices not supported by SAE, the retired Dell System E-Support Tool (DSET) 2.2 is availble for Windows and Linux systems up to 10th generation.